Ask Mark Anything: Live from Australia

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Podcast

Mark Manson

Self-improvement, Education

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Australia, you absolute legends. Back in November, I did a speaking tour across seven cities, talking to thousands of you about life, purpose, relationships, and why giving fewer fucks is the key to actually living a life you don’t hate.

We recorded some of the best Q&A moments to share with you here on the podcast. We diving into the big existential stuff—how to stop procrastinating, how to know if a relationship is right for you, and whether Australia’s ban on social media for kids is actually a good thing or not.

We’ll also talk about the brutal truth behind imposter syndrome, how to stop caring so much about what other people think, and one thing that actually helps you figure out what the hell you should be doing with your life. Plus, I’ll share some hard-earned wisdom on drinking, quitting, and why people stay in bad relationships way too long. So if you’ve ever felt stuck, lost, or just overwhelmed by the sheer absurdity of life, this one’s for you. Hit play and let’s get into it.

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Chapters

00:00 Mark goes down under

02:10 How do you discover what truly matters to you? 03:45 How can I stop procrastinating so much? 07:26 How do you deal with negative thoughts and feelings after a trauma? 09:39 How long should I wait on my "experiments" before I move on? 13:18 How do you deal with people who want you to tell you how to live your life? 14:36 What are some of the hardest things to give up? 16:43 What's your best advice on marriage? 19:40 Do you think we'll get back together? 22:12 Is society rewarding more and more bad behavior? 26:10 What are some tradeoffs that more people should do? 28:55 What can your books and content teach children? 31:57 How do you overcome imposter syndrome? 34:00 How to know if your relationship is good enough for you? 35:28 How can I deal with being overly empathetic and letting people walk all over me? 38:58 What do you think of the ban on kids using social media in Australia? 40:47 What's your advice for teenagers? 42:44 How do you overcome analysis paralysis? 44:38 How can you stop caring about other people's opinions so much? 46:56 How can we be more relevant in the AI future? 49:20 Why are so many good people not happy? 51:46 How do you go about finding your purpose in life? 54:38 What should I do if I'm focused too much on other people's problems instead of my own (codependency)? 57:42 How do continue to overcome failure after failure? 1:00:32 How can I find motivation to do anything when the world is so f*cked? 1:04:15 How can we more fully face death, grief, and loss?

Theme song: Icarus Lives by Periphery , used with permission from Periphery.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, everybody, Mark Manson here, and today I have something very special and a little bit
0:04.8	different for you. Back in November, I did a speaking tour all across Australia. I spoke in seven
0:09.9	different cities and spoke to almost 10,000 people, including at the famed Opera House. Now, at the
0:15.2	shows, we recorded the live Q&A sessions, and, well, we picked a handful of the best ones to share with you on the
0:21.8	podcast today. So in today's episode, we're going to be going through live Q&A and you're
0:27.2	going to learn the best method to improve yourself while staying true to who you actually are.
0:32.2	We're going to talk about why you can't find your purpose in life and what to do instead.
0:36.9	We'll discuss the trade-offs that have
0:38.5	an outsized return and how to navigate those and figure out what they are. We'll talk about
0:43.2	turning imposter syndrome on its head and no longer letting it hold you back. I'll share what I think
0:48.2	about Australia's ban on social media for kids. For those view who don't know, Australia is
0:53.3	forcing the social media platforms
0:55.1	to create a kids-only section. And I'm going to go over how to know if a relationship is the
1:00.8	right one for you. And of course, what it really means to stop giving a fuck so you can start
1:05.6	living the life you want. Shout out to all the Australians out there. I know a ton of you are
1:10.1	listening right now. I appreciate you coming out for the events. Honestly, it was the experience of a lifetime. It was a dream to speak in some of those venues. You Aussies are very well versed in the no fucks given philosophy. In fact, I have a YouTube video going up on Sunday. All about that. It's a vlog of the tour and also an investigation into why Australians
1:28.5	just give zero fucks. So be sure to check that out. And in the meantime, if you want to send
1:33.4	your questions, comments, love letters, trolling hate mail, pictures of your cats, you can send
1:38.0	them to the podcast at markmanson.net and I will make Drew read all of them. So we'll be back
1:42.6	next week with a regularly scheduled
1:44.3	podcast episode. In the meantime, here is the Australian Q&A. It's the subtle art of not
1:51.1	giving a fuck podcast with your host, Mark Manson. We're just going to try to move through as many people as possible so anybody who wants to ask
	...

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